Freedom
The New Testament Gospel is a message of “freedom,” not from an expectation to keep the rules, but from the just and deserved penalty of our sin. All too often Christians bandy the words “free,” “liberty” and “freedom” but with an altogether unbiblical understanding of what we are “freed” from. Jesus said that if we love him we will keep his commandments (Jn.14:21) and that if we don’t it proves that we know nothing of his grace and forgiveness (1Jn.2:3-4).
The freedom that the Bible speaks of is the kind that one would refer to if his death sentence at San Quentin were commuted by the Governor and he were “set free” without the just penalty of his transgression being carried out (see Rom.8:2 with 6:23). Praise God we are free! May we never cease to serve and obey our gracious Redeemer who has freed us from the consequences of our sin!
For Further Study: Set Free to Live Right Series
Glorify Christ
It is amazing to me how little effort we Christians commonly put into our work and service for Christ. When the world puts on a dinner for a band of politicians, a red carpet premier for an ensemble of actors, or an awards banquet for a varied group of athletes…
Compartmentalization
It is easy to compartmentalize our lives. While sitting in church we can approvingly nod at the biblical lessons that call Christ’s followers to sacrifice, deny themselves, and leave behind earthly pleasures to store up treasure in heaven. But come Monday morning…
Real Trust
Trust in God is often expressed by our restraint. We are expected to recognize that God is present, aware and lovingly involved in every difficult situation we face. It is required that Christians curb many of…
Communion
The Bible tells us that we need to take a good, long look at what is going on in our hearts when we partake in the Lord’s Supper. “Let a person examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup…
Praying Well
We may imagine it an easy thing to pray a simple prayer. But it turns out to be an incredible challenge to pray often and pray well. Even so, God calls his people to a kind of continual and thoughtful communication that saturates every…
Hard Work
The Bible has a lot to say about working hard, being disciplined, and fighting all slothful tendencies. The Christian work ethic we derive from the teaching of both the Old and New Testament leaves no room for leisurely lives…
Don’t Drift
Hebrews 2:1 tells us that “we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.” Much like a leisurely float down a meandering river, if we choose to relax in the Christian life we can be assured that the tide of our culture…
Four Things God Cannot Do
For years on playgrounds everywhere church kids have been stymied by the agitator’s questions, “Can God do anything? And if so, can he make a rock so big he can’t move it?” While children may struggle with the answer, I hope the rest of us do not…
Opportunities
Followers of Christ always need to be on the look out for opportunities to stand up for Christ and to speak up for his cause. And the more sinful the culture, the more critical it is that God’s people exploit…
Hard Truth
We all work to make our lives as comfortable and pain-free as possible. We buy all sorts of appliances and gadgets to make hard jobs easy, and seek out any available remedy to alleviate our bodily aches and pains. And this makes perfect sense. Only a masochist would…